High school volleyball: Pearland's experience pays off in tri-match

By Steven Thomson |
August 14, 2012
| Updated: August 16, 2012 4:03am

Kate Cegelski of Kingwood sets up a return during the Mustangs' four-set victory over Stratford in the team's season-opening volleyball matches Tuesday night.

PEARLAND - Experience served Pearland well on Tuesday, when the Oilers earned a pair of victories in the season-opening tri-match.

Pearland opened the evening with a 9-25, 25-21, 25-17, 25-11 win over Kingwood, then closed things out by sweeping Stratford 25-20, 25-20 and 25-11.

It took the Oilers a while to get in sync in the opening match. When they did, they began to play like a team that lost only one starter to graduation.

Senior libero Beth Shecterle keyed the defense with 41 digs over the two matches. That allowed setters Haley Morton and Nicole Poling to consistently put balls in the hands of the front line led by Autumn Taylor and 6-2 sophomore Cassidy Nussman.

Forced to regroup

"We were flat (in the first set against Kingwood)," Pearland coach John Turner said. "We just didn't play at all. We regrouped and did really well. Our defense and passing got a lot better."

With just one starter back from last year's squad, Stratford struggled with ball control. The Spartans played exceptional defense in both matches, however, and got good setting from Jennifer Swanson.

Kingwood came back from its opening loss against Pearland to defeat Stratford 27-25, 26-24, 22-25 and 25-18.

Like Stratford, Kingwood is going through a rebuilding process after losing nine seniors to graduation. That showed through a lack of consistency, as Mustangs coach Ashley Earhart gave everyone on her roster a lot of court time.

"That comes from being a brand-new team," Earhart said. "It's the first night of competition, so we were trying to work through some kinks. I thought we played hard, and I'm glad to walk out at 1-1."

Kingwood displayed some good passing and defense. It's primary problem was putting the ball down against Stratford's scrappy defense.

Setter Natalie Towne had a good night for the Mustangs. Solid defense allowed Kingwood to score a lot of transition points.

"I hope what the kids take out of this is the importance of ball control at key times," Earhart said. "We played hard on defense and got some points that we possibly shouldn't have gotten."